APA Digital Coast Needs Assessment Survey

Issues

Respondents were asked to rate the priority of various issues as they related to the respondents' planning practice, analysis, and research for coastal communities. Respondents were given a scale ranging from very high priority to very low priority, as well as a "not applicable" option. The issues were listed in alphabetical order in order to minimize bias. Respondents had to prioritize each issue, or else their responses would be considered incomplete (and therefore be excluded from the analysis).

The total data are summarized below. Click on a region for specific regional data:

• Atlantic Northeast
• Mid-Atlantic
• Atlantic Southeast
• Gulf of Mexico
• Caribbean Sea
• Great Lakes
• West Coast
• Arctic
• Pacific Islands

TABLE 3a.

a. Not Applicable

b. Responses to Question #11 (What other issues are a priority for your planning practice/analysis/ research?) are provided at the end of this page.

Table 3a lists 36 issues. The six issues (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of very high or high priority ratings from respondents are:

1. Land Use Planning/Growth Management (86%);
2. Conservation (72%);
3. Economic Development (71%);
4. Flooding/Inundation/Storm Surge (68%);
5. Infrastructure/Utilities Development (67%); and
6. Transportation (ground) (67%).

The six issues (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of low or very low priority ratings from respondents are:

1. Commercial Fishing (49%);
2. Subsidence (46%);
3. Oil/Pollutant Spill Response (45%);
4. Submerged Lands Management (45%);
5. Food Systems/Agriculture (43%); and
6. Population Migration (43% each).

The six issues (two tied for #5) with the highest percentage of respondents rating the issue as "Not Applicable" are:

1. Tsunami (including seiche) (18%);
2. Commercial Fishing (13%);
3. Subsidence (13%);
4. Resilience (12%);
5. Oil/Pollutant Spill Response (11%); and
6. Submerged Lands Management (11%).

Top 10 Issue Priorities of Respondents.

• Land Use Planning/Growth Management (86%)
• Conservation (72%)                
• Economic Development (71%)          
• Flooding/Inundation/Storm Surge (68%)
• Ground Transportation (67%)
• Infrastructure/Utilities Development (67%)
• Sustainability (63%)
• Recreation & Tourism (61%)
• Public Access (61%)
• Hazard Management (60%)

What other issues are a priority for your planning practice/analysis/research? (Question #11 — 190 free responses)

• AGRICULTURE
• Agriculture protection and sustainment
• Urban agriculture
• CLIMATE CHANGE
• I think more effort should be given to planning future population movements related to sea level rise.
• climatic effects on marine resources
• potential & completed cap & trade mitigation banks
• The biggest issue here in Orange County, California is the potential for rising Pacific Ocean sea levels (projected to be at least 3 feet) that will inundate a portion of the cities of Seal Beach, Sunset Beach Community, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente, CA. Portions of lands in County of Orange territory will also be inundated. These cities/County of Orange are aware of this potential threat but don't see many of them planning for sea rise change. Sea rise change will also impact our freshwater groundwater basins, near the ocean, creating a need to improve our seawater intrusion barriers in the County. Also, an increase in sea water levels will impact the marinas we have in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point, Ca.
• wetlands habitat restoration in combination with sea level rise.
• Carbon Sequestrian and population growth
• GHG Emissions
• sea level rise, proposed new FEMA flood mapping, wetland loss, storm surge impact planning, natural resource/habitat conservation.
• COMMUNICATION
• Communication w/ Coastal Commission
• Intergovernmental and inter-agency coordination and collaboration
• DATA
• Weather forecasting both for anticipating emergency outage response due to wind, fire, earthquakes as well as alternative energy availability forecasting (wind or solar generation).
• Aerial photography
• Demographics
• We need local sea-level rise data and projections for the 2050 and 2100 timeframes from NOAA so that we don't have to make our own guess from the myriad of research out there.
• Quantifying erosion or accretion along Alaska's coast - not much data available
• accurate FEMA maps with property lines would really be helpful for the public and planning staff and building depts.
• Mainly only zoning and land development IT is trying to create a coastal emergency management/police real time/location system.
• Any transit data as it relates to incomes, education & crime/transit relationships
• Current data which defines as accurately as possible impacts (flooding, subsidence, etc.) from climate change.
• sex offender buffers, land use notification buffers, map historic resources
• DEVELOPMENT/GROWTH/INFRASTRUCTURE
• Development phasing, economic impacts, view corridor analysis
• Community Development
• Neighborhood preservation. Downtown revitalization
• planned development
• Historic Preservation
• Rational balance between economic development and the rabid environmentalists.
• There is a lot of university research being performed at Lake Erie, but I am only involved in the physical campus planning aspect of it.
• Downtown redevelopment, development of mixed-use environments.
• growth scenarios
• Population growth, housing projections and affordability
• Space management
• Improved processes for managing projects with Site & Route components that navigate through NIMBY resistance.
• Downtown Redevelopment, development review
• LEED/LID
• Urban Design Review
• building bulk
• Construction mitigation
• existing development including street widths, trees, hydric soils and vegetation
• Scour safety at coastal bridge and culvert locations Tidal restrictions at coastal bridges and culverts navigational clearances at coastal bridge locations safe flood conveyance at coastal bridge and culvert locations
• multi-modal infrastructure preservation and investment; port operations
• greyfield redevelopment
• main street development
• Interface of hospital development and coastal region served
• Infrastructure management
• also, removing once trhough cooling power plants on the coast
• logistics, asset management, capital program management, project development
• historic preservation
• redevelopment opportunities for brownfields sites in areas of supportive services, viewsheds from historic properties and districts
• Smart growth
• Community redevelopment
• locations of state facilities such as highways, harbors and airports
• infrastructure development, waste management
• ECONOMY
• APA involvement in the Science and Technology Pipeline Development as part of Economic and Strategic Planning
• Subsistence resources
• economic development
• Economic Development
• jobs
• EDUCATION/PUBLIC HEALTH
• Education/outreach
• Public Involvement Parameters
• Public education and outreach. Community facilitation and decision-making. Policy development and implementation.
• Public health
• School planning
• community health planning
• Public Involvement
• ENERGY
• planning for more alternative energy systems, esp. wind power
• energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings, preparation for new gas drilling development
• benefits of "green" building on learning
• ENVIRONMENT/CONSERVATION
• Light and Glare impacts on Species; Noise impacts on Species
• Penguin locations
• tree preservation
• Environmental analysis of impacts of development on coastal resources.
• Conservation finance
• Air quality
• CEQA/NEPA Analysis
• environmental permitting
• Biological and Cultural Resources
• critical area protection and management restoration projects
• Tree species. Marshland protection.
• farming and forest preservation, green infrastructure
• tree replacement...
• air quality
• soil types, contours
• vacant land, soils
• coastal restoration; habitat restoration; environmental mitigation
• Environmental remediation
• wetland permitting
• Consistency with the California Coastal Act.
• Habitat Loss Management
• Adaptation
• forest restoration and preservation
• Forest health/sustainability
• acquisition of private land for conservation
• Estuary and Shorelands management Beach and Dunes development and conservation issues
• HAZARDS
• adjusting land use ordinance standards to reflect more intense storm events
• planning for evacuation routes
• Hurricane evacuation data
• Post Disaster Redevelopment Planning.
• emergency service delivery
• floodplain planning
• Beach erosion
• Transferrable development rights program development/implementation- from floodplains to areas designated for increased densities and intensities of uses (receiving areas) which are in close proximity to existing towns/cities with available infrastructure.
• We have miles of old sea walls built in the 1930's that are now failing. Estimated replacement cost is $50M. We don't have the money to replace them. Protecting homes behind the walls.
• Primarily maintaining ground transportation systems through dynamic environments subject to extreme storm and tidal surge events.
• Implementing post-disaster redevelopment plans that use the concept of sustainable and vulnerable priority redevelopment areas.
• hazardous materials/sites
• emergency management
• bringing new orleans back!
• storm surge, evacuation, evacuation routes, delineating flood areas, FEMA's FIRMs, delineating coastal high hazard areas, delineating coastal storm areas, high winds, erosion, sand dune systems, floodplain issues, wetlands, mangrove area, sea bird and sea life (fish, clams, etc.) habitat
• disaster recovery
• Hurricane evacuation. Sheltering (from storms).
• Evacuation and emergency management (implicit in some of the above).
• Provision of emergency services.
• HOUSING
• Housing market, foreclosures
• Real Estate Values & Taxation
• A distinction needs to be made between my priorities and that of my employers. Affordable Housing would be one of my priorities.
• Affordable Housing
• Housing
• affordable housing
• Affordable Housing
• Affordable housing
• quality housing
• Housing And Urban Development
• affordable housing in relation to transit
• Housing
• Housing analysis
• Affordable / workforce housing
• housing
• MILITARY LAND USE COMPATIBILITY
• Military Civilian Compatible Land Use Planning
• Within the military, the DoD is very concerned about land use compatibility adjacent to federal lands, as well as the encroachments/compatibility for the military training ranges found off-shore within the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
• Naval facilities and their relationship to the physical and cultural environments they share.
• land use compatibility
• RECREATION
• Recreation
• Sport Fishing
• greenways and trails
• scenic areas
• Scenic byway planning
• Open space management
• Coastal Open Space/Parkland
• Tourist or visitor activity, use, or frequency.
• REGIONAL PLANNING
• Regional planning and transboundary planning
• Any topic that can be applied to in a regional context
• Regional planning; marine spatial planning; coastal governance issues especially regional
• SECURITY
• Crime Prevention
• international waters and border crossings
• boundary security
• community policing analysis
• NASA Rocket Launch Range and Airport Safety
• Jurisdictional concerns
• Also, national defense uses and protections
• TRANSPORTATION
• Pedestrian/Bicycle support; Transit support
• Sustainable urban planning and development and transit oriented development
• Anything related to transportation
• Alternative ground transportation options - bike/ped routes and interconnectivity with resources, such as the marina, beach, recreation centers, and retail.
• Highway systems, Local roadways (centerlines)
• MPO, mostly transportation, some land use and environment
• Commute information non-recurrent traffic information and hot spots
• Transportation
• transit oriented development; traffic analyses including parking; bike/ ped routes
• transportation planning
• Alternative Transportation - walkable communities, bicycle planning, Main Street and Historic Preservation.
• Multi-modal transportation
• Transit/Rail enhancement, congestion mitigation.
• beach parking
• parking, traffic
• For coastal development we would include air transport options including seaplanes and helicopters
• planning for alternative modes of transportation
• TOD
• transportation and land use connections
• transit-oriented development & multi-modal connections including ferries & water taxis
• Jobs / Housing balance Locating housing closer to jobs Transportation Demand Management Reduced parking requirements for TODs and mixed-use developments
• UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS
• Homelessness, and affordable housing development. Planning for community services. The effects of planning actions on children and the elderly.
• Socioeconomic impacts on low income or native or other disadvantaged populations
• unemployment data analysis, vacant housing data analysis
• social planning
• Human population
• WATER
• Estuary plan updates
• Water supply
• Storm Water and Asset Management
• Regional Water Supply Planning
• Water Supply resource planning and protection, including saltwater intrusion and overuse (sustainability)
• water supply
• Topography, watersheds
• Stormwater management, erosion
• stream corridor protection
• stormwater flows - stabilizing peak & low flows
• Impervious surface
• NPDES
• impervious surfaces, detailed land cover
• impervious surfaces
• Channel Dredging
• water supply, water quality, natural systems, and flood protection.
• The Chesapeake Bay TMDL requirements and Chesapeake Bay Act.
• Ground water
• water quality, floodplain development, and soil erosion
• Hydrology, Water Quantity
• water quality management
• Stormwater
• stormwater quality/quantity floodplain management redevelopment
• impervious surface modeling
• Stormwater
• water levels
• Public water supply; levee integrity; water depth monitoring
• Water supply, water resource management
• Water supply
• floodplain, development
• Development type and density for protection of groundwater quality.
• Stormwater management
• waterfront public open spaces, water-in/water-out industries, multi-purpose infrastructure (e.g. levee + greenway)
• water supply, stormwater management
• ZONING/REGULATION
• code enforcement
• zoning and future land use. maintaining an address database.
• Permitting and coastal regulatory analysis and records
• Zoning/Land Use Designations, Land ownership, land use and values
• zoning and future land use. Policy analysis
• NONE/INCLUDED ABOVE (22)
• NON-TOPICAL COMMENTARY
• In the answers above, I am speaking about my 15 year experience from 1991-2005. There is a difference between what I THINK and what the COMMITTEE DID....I answered for the latter. I will highly encourage the current team to answer for now. THEIR NEEDS ARE GREATER THAN THEY KNOW...believe me.
• We do very very little environmental, economic, population, demographics, etc... Several of us know about the capabilities but there is no political will or desire to make waves (no pun intended)
• SURVEY CRITIQUE
• 10 and 11 are unclear. Is it what the government we are working in sees as a priority b/c they give us funding; or what I would consider a priority if I had the funding to do so. I answered 10 as the priority that the local gov. I work for view its GIS capabilities